Finding Birds in the Chesapeake Marsh

With her husband David, Zora Aiken left Chicago in 1974 for a one-year trip on a small sailboat. The year evolved into more than twenty years of meandering by boat. As they traveled, Zora wrote and David illustrated articles for magazines and newspapers, focusing on outdoor, travel, or lifestyle topics. Zora was a contributing editor to three marine publications and published a newsletter about small-boat travel. Together they wrote, and David illustrated, four books on outdoor subjects: two for recreational boaters, one for tent campers, and one describing the life of a Canadian outdoorsman. Most recently, David and Zora collaborated on a children’s book, Finding Birds in the Chesapeake Marsh: A Child’s First Look and Fiberglass Repair. David Aiken grew up in a small Michigan town and moved to Chicago, where he apprenticed with one of the largest commercial art studios in the city. Eventually he opened his own studio for illustration and design. He and his wife, Zora, left Chicago for a one-year trip on a small sailboat, and the year became more than twenty years of meandering by boat, allowing both to devote time to writing and painting. David sold paintings through galleries and private showings at yacht clubs and resort hotels, while continuing to do editorial illustration and commercial projects. Aiken is an artist member of the American Society of Marine Artists and has coauthored and illustrated cruising and camping books with his wife. He is the author of Fiberglass Repair and the illustrator of Chesapeake ABC, Chesapeake 1-2-3, Chesapeake Rainbow, Finding Birds in the Chesapeake Marsh, Majesty from Assateague, Quiet Please—Eaglets Growing, and Where Did All the Water Go?